Financing alternatives

More and more people are wondering about how the Occupy movement will shift from protest and demonstration to strategies and actions that will result in personal and community empowerment, actions toward restructuring our institutions and shifting the balance of power from Washington and Wall Street to Main Streets, neighborhoods, and civic organizations.

One rather obvious strategy is to change the way we spend and invest our money.

Click here to see a list of financing alternatives that I started preparing as a resource list for my presentation to the Financial Planning Association in May, 2011. I have since added a few items to it, including a link to One PacificCoast Bank, a relatively new bank which has as its mission, “to build prosperity in our communities through beneficial banking services delivered in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner.” According to a description on the BALLE website, the “founders granted 100% of the bank’s dividends, when declared, to a foundation dedicated to the communities and environment upon which we all depend. This unique structure ensures that the bank’s interests are aligned with the needs of its customers and communities. We call this “beneficial banking.”

I like the sound of that and I’m hoping that this case may be the forerunner of a new pattern of corporate ownership in which service is the foremost purpose and profits are distributed to entities that serve the common good, not just the narrow interests of a few.

I have made my resource list a permanent page which is listed in the sidebar to the right under Resources. It remains a work in progress.–t.h.g.

One response to “Financing alternatives”

England’s Quakers leading the way again. Very well stated. Hopefully, all this will connect to the ancient ideas on right against self incrimination and laws that allow the accused to face one who is actually harmed, rather than the state acting as accuser.

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